Tortured Souls
by Ryurasuke
Summary: Shinigami-sama has a new son, a new grim reaper to take his throne when he has earned it. Meisters and weapons are all still working hard in Shibusen. But unfortunately, evil has flourished in the hearts of humans and kishin eggs are in ready supply. There have been very close calls of true kishin births.
1. Chapter 1

**Time for a dump posting! A chapter for each of my stories! RxR Everybody! You know I live for reviews! And Happy Halloween!**

* * *

Nyx sipped from the cup of wine. A party in celebration of their most favorite time of the year. Halloween. Her sister was nearby, taking a dainty bite from a puffy pastry filled with fluffy cream. Of the two, she considered herself much more entertaining to hang out with. Her sister was a total bore. Their meister was up on the roof, he had little patience for people, sometimes even against spending time with his demon weapons.

Nyx considered herself lucky considering the power of their meister. A son of the great Shinigami-sama! He was the son of the immortal powerhouse. And Nyx was determined, as was her sister in one of her few showings of emotion, that their meister would not follow the fate of his predecessors. He would be the first of Shinigami's sons to become a true Shinigami and use them as Death Scythes, instead of dying while still only a grim reaper.

The party was now growing into full swing, and she could see as her sister was turning more and more awkward as people began to move into closer quarters with one another. A man walked up quite close to her, obviously intending to ask her to dance.

Akrid was not amused by the party. She could see that her sister was enjoying the party. She always enjoyed everything. Much different than Akrid herself, or their meister. Akuma was rather sociable within certain circles, most particularly among his two demon weapons. Akrid was much the same, having an intense distaste for anybody. Where they differed though was in Akuma's enjoying their companionship, while she merely was forced to tolerate it.

As the man approached, she leveled a deadly glare at him. The man flinched under that glare and continued past, pretending as if that had been his intention all along. Akrid passed her attention away from him once he passed. She had little time for trifling matters.

She couldn't wait for Akuma to come down and identify the individual they were to kill. _Stupid Nyx, _she thought angrily. It was all Nyx's fault to begin with. She'd convinced Akuma to go to the party rather than simply making the kill and being on their way. Despite her dislike of others, she plain refused to stay away from everybody else and be a social pariah like their meister.

Several minutes passed in which absolutely nothing happened. A party hosted by one of the kingpins of some group or other. "Vito Cascioferro." She whispered, the name coming back to her even as the man himself was revealed to her through a group of his mafioso.

Not all of them were targets. Akuma wanted for them to die in proper order. Ten targets in all.

Akuma wanted them to die good deaths. Strategic ones, good ones, perfect ones, to terrorize Vito, to destroy the mafia in the area. He wanted them to never hurt another group of people again. Despite his inhumanity, despite his eccentric tendencies, he was still a good person, people just often had difficulty seeing past his heritage, and his past.

Akrid took a sip of wine, grimacing at the bitter taste. Dressed in a flowing silver gown, complete with a cream-white veiled hat topping the pristine white hair tied up in a bun at the crown of her head. She felt oddly out of place, despite the fact that she looked perfectly at home. The white mask over her eyes hid the oddness of her vision from the others. She appeared blind, with eyes having a white veil over the pale green and liquid silver irises and pupil. Even her skin reflected the pattern of purity, being incredibly pale, as if the sun had never touched her in her life.

She was the exact opposite of her sister. Nyx, with her long midnight hair tied into a heavy braid down her back, almost twice as far as Akrid's hair could go when it wasn't tied. Her skin was a deep, sensual tan, remaining that same color no matter how little or how much she was out in the sun. Much of her skin was covered by tight black leathers, her preferred choice of clothing no matter the circumstance. Her face was hidden behind a large, demonic black mask, covering the majority of her face compared to the smaller mask only covering her sister's eyes. Nyx also chose to keep her eyes more visible, allowing some of the oil of her sclera to show, matching the demon acuity of her irises and pupils of smoky, darkness laden red.

They were a matched set, similar, but completely different. Akrid was cold, calculating, precise, not leaving anything to chance. Nyx was a free spirit, enjoying even the miniscule things, simply allowing life to take her along for a ride with it.

Minutes turned into hours before a shadow passed across the large, stained-glass windows.

Akrid moved over to her sister. "Time's up. Hope you enjoyed your party. Now we can finally get some work done."

"Work, work, work," Nyx sighed. "That's all you ever talk about. I swear you have wet dreams about it. Let's just kill the bastards." Both of them held their hands up over their heads, a simple foot away from one of the windows.

As their hands lifted, Akuma threw himself through the glass in a front flip, grabbing onto each of their hands. They transformed into their weapon forms quickly.

Akrid's body changed into a rather large, silver revolver, about the length of his arm, that fit perfectly into his hand. Engraved along the barrel was the simple word _Ten._

Nyx altered and became a long katana, with a blade almost three feet in length alone. The hilt added almost another foot, being designed to be wielded with body hands. Akuma only used a single hand. Just above the guard of the weapon was another word, the word _Yomi._

Akuma landed on a table on the edge of the room, glaring death down on the patrons of the party. He lifted Akrid and whispered, "Boo."

Before any of the gangsters could react, he was already among them. First target, a lowlife, the equivalent of a mobster lieutenant. He was dead before he realized just what kind of vision of death had swept over the party. His head hit the floor as the first screams rang out.

The women cried out in fear and fled from the scene as the mobster men started to run to hidden weapon caches. The head of the snake was already being escorted upstairs. Akuma could easily have taken the shot with Akrid, she had more than enough power to be accurate at that range. But that would have been too impersonal. Death was something final. And a person should always be exposed to the vision of their death. Death was a work of beauty, and guns were just so messy, and lacking of finesse.

The second to die tried to put up a fight. Akuma slipped by his guard effortlessly and flicked his blade to the side to clear the blood off of Nyx's length. Even as he walked among the gangsters, Akuma sucked the souls of the departed into his body to be stored through his konso, until he had leisure to divvy them among the sisters.

As he moved, Akuma continued kept his mind fine tuned to watch for the souls of his targets. Unfortunately, none of them had remained downstairs.

The mafiosos open fired as he leapt up the stairs. Not a bullet came near to him. As they began to give chase, he barreled down the hallway and smacked his shoulder up against the door and burst into the chamber. He immediately backtracked and stepped back out of the chamber to avoid the bullet storm that came to assail him.

Not one of the bullets passed even close to hitting him. He was nowhere they thought and everywhere they feared. Before they thought of where else he might be, as they reloaded their weapons, he lunged into the room.

Some of the faster to react among them realized that he would be among them long before they could reload their weapons. They drew knives and bats and rushed him, hoping for support from the back. One of the knives dropped towards his face, Akrid's long heavy body protected him, taking the hit and sliding it away harmlessly.

Nyx's slender length cracked through his ribcage without slowing in the slightest. He slammed Akrid against another of the men's face, one he had no reason to kill. A flip lifted him up over the group, and Nyx flashed briefly, before two more of the fell, run through the heart with a perfect thrust apiece.

A pair of brass knuckles nearly clove a line down Akuma's cheek. He made that attacker suffer the loss of both of his arms. His life was spared however.

Akrid was of the mind that anybody who got in their way, especially if they were evil humans, such as these gangsters, should be killed without hesitation. After all, they were evil, and they were in the way. Nyx's thoughts weren't much different. She loved battle, and the excitement coursed through her whenever their lives were endangered.

Akuma however, believed that death was something beautiful. Each death should be something to match. When he fought, it was the same way that artists held their paintbrushes. His every movement was calculated out a dozen steps in advance, and he was never touched throughout.

Akuma moved among the gangsters like a ghost. Never touched, hardly seen. His targets were dead and he was gone. A good death did not always involve interaction. Many of the best deaths were from afar. It only mattered that they die beautifully, many of them were infinitely complex, lacking the purity of simplicity for the accuracy of beauty.

After the death of his targets, leaving Vito Cascioferro alive to suffer the fear of the deadly shadow that had come in and proven just how little control he really had, Akuma flicked both weapons to clean them. Nine kills, with five others left in the room alive and knocked out.

Akuma walked over to Vito and slammed Akrid's body down on the desk in front of him. "Do it." He whispered.

Vito stared at the man, a slight trembling in his hand as he reached for the weapon. He chose the stupid and thrust the gun at Akuma and pulled the trigger. Nyx's length separated the man's hand from his wrist, and then thrust over and slammed against the man's other wrist, lifting it above his table and then slamming down and piercing through the palm, pinning it to the wooden desk.

"It's a shame." Akuma sighed. "I was giving you a chance to begin to redeem yourself. 'The pure of heart pass on to heaven. The wicked join us in hell.'" With the refusal to take his own life and be redeemed in _Ten_, heaven. There was only one choice. To be sent to _Yomi_, hell.

Nyx flickered and a fountain of blood and smoke sprouted as the evil one's head separated from his shoulders.

Akuma drew the soul into his body, storing it with konso to be given to his weapons later. There were still numerous others in the house, and he didn't want to ruin such a perfect group of kills with more unneeded blood.

Of course one of the mobsters had to ruin it. Akuma heard the click behind him and threw himself forward before the line of bullets chased after him. Akrid and Nyx went back into human form and hid with him behind the desk. They weren't afraid of the hail of bullets. They had a much greater fear.

"Don't worry about it Kid." Nyx used the same term of endearment that Shinigami-sama had named his son long ago.

One of the few times that emotion would creep into Akrid's tone was at times like this. She tried a soothing tone, to placate the aura seeping out from around Akuma. "Come on, it's not that bad. He was just trying to do his job, he didn't mean it."

Both of their voices were laced with fear. Now was not a good time. Especially to be an enemy within the house.

"Akrid, Nyx, weapon forms, _now._" AKuma's voice was sharp enough to cut through the noise of the gun. The two shared a look before submitting. Akuma stood and then his mind went black.

A small drop of blood ran its way down his cheek. That single drop set him off the edge. He was neurotic about perfection, not to the same degree as his predecessor had been, with his OCD.

AKuma did not suffer the same, but his vision of perfection reflected mostly upon himself. And if there was anything he hated, it was a flaw upon his person. He hated when people touched him, and he hated when he was cut. Messing up his clothing and hair could be fixed quickly, but if he was cut, it was distinctly possible that the injury would scar.

A scar was the worst thing he could imagine, simply because the chance that it would be a perfect scarring was almost nonexistent.

Nyx and Akrid closed their vision to the battle at this point. There was no threat to Akuma any longer, not when he was like this. There was nothing that could hurt him, nothing to be found within this house, and possibly nothing from the human experience that could touch him.

He truly lived up to his name, and he lived up to his title as a Grim Reaper, a son of Shinigami-sama himself.

He was more than just a meister. He was a master of death.

He was the son of Shinigami-sama.

He was a demon in human guise.

He was Akuma.


	2. Chapter 2

**Well I was told that this was one of the current favored stories, so it gets an update quickly!**

* * *

Back at Shibusen, another party was being held. Here, however, the Halloween spirit was infinitely more in tune at this location. Not many among the staff and students could be seen in their natural appearances. Those that were, already appeared unnatural. A few from outside the school came as well.

Shinigami-sama retained his usual comedic appearance, in order to ensure that he didn't scare the children. Or so he claimed. Nobody had seen his true form in so long that they couldn't even be sure that his real form was scary at all.

Sitting by a punch bowl, were a group of unpaired meisters and weapons. Each one was labeled as such and were supposed to mix with one another and try to find their perfect match.

In the center of the large chamber, a sparring location was set up, ringed off with hard iron ropes. There were some people who could reconcile themselves with others through talk, where others resorted to battle. Besides, it was Halloween, where was the fun without a little danger?

One of the better of the fighter was a young girl dressed as a pirate. She was an unpaired weapon, and a hell of a fighter, even without a partner.

Her pirate outfit combined human ingenuity and her weapon's power. An open leather bodice, with tight strings crossing the middle of her chest to keep it from springing open and revealing her to the entire party. Her bust strained against the clothing, seeming to actually _try_ to escape. The bodice flared at the bottom edge, turning almost into a skirt to flow down over her hips. Tight leather, and hard used pants covered her down to her mid-calf. A single boot went up and covered the skin on her right leg, continuing up to her knee. The left leg from the end of her pants to the floor was a blade, rather than a peg leg. Her right arm from the elbow was the same rather than a leg. Her long hair hung down in a loose, oiled darkness down past her ass, making it all the way down to the halfway point of her thigh. A high-edged pirate hat rounded off the costume, complete with a skull motif on the forward facing edge.

A set up of new partners faced her next, a young male meister and a punch dagger weapon. They leapt to it, hopping over another opponent she'd taken down earlier. The meister punched at her with the weapon, she simply leaned backwards and kicked up with her blade foot. The meister moved fast enough to dodge and thrust with another punch.

She continued her motion, leaning back and twisting her body in an arc, planting her left hand on the ground and kicking up at his chin with both legs. Her boot connected, but he was able to avoid the blade.

From the kick however, he was still launched backward in a back flip, landing hard a few feet away. He hit and smashed against the floor hard, with a loud crack as something broke. The weapon transformed and launched himself at her again. He was even easier to take out, landing in a heap on the other side of his pirate opponent.

Another opponent stepped in, a cocky half-smile across his lips. An unpaired meister. He was one of the few meisters to come up as a challenge so far that she didn't want to laugh at to start with.

He was dressed as a grim reaper stereotype, something that one would consider clichéd for a group of people who went to a school headed up by the legendary Shinigami-sama. Luckily, the only thing more legendary than Shinigami-sama was his sense of humor. There weren't many who would dare to do something of the sort anyway, but you had to respect somebody with the balls to do it. There wasn't much to be seen outside of the costume, it covered him nearly completely, with a half mask hiding his eyes and nose. The smile never left his lips.

"Name's Teldier, Teldier Roaming, pleasure to meet you little lady." He laughed. "What's yours?"

The pirate giggled, glad to find somebody with a similar mindset to her own. Fun, and confident. Maybe somebody who could actually use her properly. "If you beat me, I'll tell you my name." She teased.

Teldier snickered. "Let's go then." He quickstepped in front of her and charged his shoulder at her. She stepped back and swung her right arm down at his shoulder.

He caught her arm just below the blade and used her own momentum against her. The weapon was pushed back against her chest, cutting through the strings holding her clothes together around her body.

Teldier moved close and pulled her tight against his body. "Hmm, looks like you're in quite a bind." He whispered, leaning down to speak in her ear. "I think that changing forms completely might be beneficial to say the least." That stupid grin never left his stupid face.

She could feel that the pressure of his body against her being the only thing keeping her from flashing everybody in the room. "Freaking hell. Maiko Busujima." Maiko introduced herself simply, confusing the hell out of her partner before she grabbed his hand and completed her transformation.

In weapon form, she was just as beautiful. A four foot staff mounted on either end with a nearly two foot long katana. Teldier was clearly well trained, he flicked her through the air in several rapid cycles around his hands, flipping and spinning in a wordless challenge to the others in the room. There weren't many willing to go up against them.

One of the few was a meister dressed as a pirate, who happened to have a weapon set up as a hook. Whether it was happy irony or planned coincidence who could tell?

Maiko decided to screw with her new partner, just for forcing her into this situation. She was more than just a dual bladed naginata. Along the middle of the staff segment, she could be separated into two equally sized lengths, connected by a chain. She did so as he swung down at their opponent.

Unfortunately for her, he reacted remarkably well, flicking one half around his body and catching both halves in his right hand. He swung and used the momentum of his entire body to whip the twin blades at their opponent's neck. The pirate was able to block, but the pure force behind the hit launched him from his feet and sent the pair flying away into the crowd surrounding the sparring arena.

He strutted a little, taunting potential opponents through body language rather than words. His cockiness attracted attention that they didn't expect however.

Like a ghost he drifted into the arena. Dressed in black, a battle weary pair of shorts torn around the bottom edge down by mid calf, and a tastefully ripped black shirt over a silver mesh undershirt. Long hair flowed down his back for a few inches past his waist. He faced them, so they couldn't see his back, but they knew who he was and knew that there would be three white lines down his hair from the shoulder to the end. Tattooed on his right arm was the word, _Doji,_ and set to match it on the other said was, _Yokai. _The perfect fit given his weapons.

Akuma the kid, Akuma the demon, Akuma the grim reaper, Akuma Shinigami-sama's son.

"Of course it had to be Akuma." Teldier chuckled as he snapped his new partner apart and fitted her back into one piece. "No more playing pranks."

"Oh like you get to boss me around!" Maiko said aggressively from the body of the weapon.

"I'm just saying."

Akuma's partners stepped up behind him, Nyx chuckling at some joke she'd made before stepping up and Akrid dead silent and serious. Truth be told, of the three of them, Akrid was the creepiest.

Nyx was the scariest, with a love of death and a thrill from blood. She reacted spontaneously, quickly and almost always with violence. She was best likened to a force of chaos.

Akrid however, was creepy. There was no emotion to her. When she was cut in human form, she never reacted, she'd never seemed excited in the least before, nothing phased her or took her away from the dull, lifeless, apathetic lethargy. She was the essence of nihilism.

And then there was Akuma. Akuma was the deadliest, by far. Cold and calm during battle, he was always two steps ahead of his opponent and already readying their defeat and subsequent demise. And then, even worse was what happened if something injured him or one of his partners. Nobody at Shibusen had ever actually seen what had happened in a situation like that, but enough rumors had gotten around that everybody knew that they didn't want to experience it.

Nyx was the scariest, the essence of chaos; Akrid was the creepiest, the soul of nihilism; Akuma was the deadliest, and he was the spirit of his father. He was best described as death.

Teldier and Maiko were going to have their work cut out for them during this next fight. A quick flicking of the naginata around his wrist set Teldier up for battle.

Akuma twitched his head once to either side for each girl and adopted a bare fisted fighting stance. The two powerful weapons stepped aside, Akrid with an air of utter uncaring, and Nyx with a sad pout across her lips.

"Damn it." Teldier sighed. He rushed at Akuma, slapping the upper half of the naginata down at his rival's throat.

Akuma swept the attack to the side and punched his palm into Teldier's throat. Teldier threw his hand down and kicked up at Akuma's chest. Akuma slapped the pitiful attack away harmlessly.

"Ohohohoho!" Came a loud goofy chuckle. A dark shadow danced up out of the ground, surmounted by Shinigami-sama's cartoonish appearance. "If it isn't my dear son." He bubbled.

Akuma sighed, he had hoped to enjoy the party a little longer before he was to meet with his father. He nodded again to Akrid and Nyx, signaling them to follow him. "Let's get this over with father." He led the way.

"You're always so serious!" Shinigami bubbled over with joy. "Why not just loosen up once in a while?" Another of his foolish chuckles followed.

"I've been busy." Akuma's lame excuse caused another burst of laughter. "Too many jobs in too short a time for me to loosen up."

"I keep on telling you to slow down and enjoy what you're doing as you do it. You have nobody to blame but yourself." He faded away as they approached the Death Room. As the door opened, Akuma could see him standing in the room, staring through the mirror at a distinctly evil human. Fingers long as swords, with brutal protrusions projected back from its elbows. The image disappeared before he could get a better view.

"So." Shinigami began. "A couple casualties on the last job?"

* * *

Back at the party, Teldier spun Maiko a few more times before she asked him to bring her to her room so she could fix her outfit. He chuckled and was tempted to refuse. But he choose to be nice and took her away. "You still have one of the dorm rooms?" He chuckled.

"Shut up. I couldn't find a place for under two hundred." She snapped, referring to the weekly allowance.

"Well my place is only two hundred for an entire month." He taunted. "If you were my weapon, you'd be more than welcome to stay with me."

"Tsk, you think you're meister enough to handle me?"

"I think at worst, I'm the best you can get. And you're just lucky that I'm nice enough to lower myself to your level so you can be my weapon."

"A little cocky?" Her tone oozed disdain.

"Only around you babe." He laughed in response. "So what do you say? Be my weapon? At least until we find a better match?"

"You're just lucky I've been wanting to leave the dorms. Split rent 50/50?"

"I was just going to pay it all, it really isn't that much."

"Screw that, I'm no freeloader."

"Fine, you pay me a hundred and I'll pay our rent. Deal?"

"Will you just get me to my room so I can change?"

"I'll take that as a yes."

"Just move." Maiko refused to let him have the last word. He realized the only reason why she had spoken, but he chose to let her win this battle.


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't even know what happened with this chapter. It just kinda got away from me I guess. Whatever though right? I don't even know if anybody really reads this or if its just like four people reading it and reading it over again...This is why I love reviews, so I at least know that I'm doing a halfway decent job. It doesn't really matter anyway, you're not here to listen to me rant, you're here for the story, so I'll just shut up now...**

* * *

Akuma was a little pissed at his father. He had taken all of Akuma's souls, for causalities not authorized by himself. All of his souls! He had had ninety souls for each of the sisters! One hundred and eighty souls in all! And now he was back down to zero! He was sitting in his classroom, seat turned around between his legs. His hands rested on the chair's back, making a softer location for him to rest his chin.

To his right sat Akrid, while Nyx took the seat to his left. Although they were complete opposites, seated like this they made perfect symmetry. They both remained perfectly silent, knowing that to break into his brooding would unleash a foul storm that neither of them wished to deal with.

In the classroom sat the others in their class, ranging from geniuses down to total idiots. The female weapon who had dressed as a pirate the night before, the one whom he hadn't been allowed to actually finish his fight one. Seated next to her was her newly attained meister from the night before. He would need to challenge them again just to prove his dominance.

Across the room was the genius of the class, Adalwolf von Faust. He could only just barely be considered a meister, since he did have a weapon. He hardly ever fought with her, preferring to rely on his own abilities, which remained quite secret. His weapon, Lorelei Vilja, was perfectly willing to stand on the sidelines and let him take care of the battle. She was a good fighter in her own right, some might argue a better fighter than when paired up with her meister, and had her own brand of abilities that made her even more dangerous. Between the two of them, they were quite a threat, but Faust refused to be lured into pointless battles for supremacy, there didn't seem to be anything to make him lose his cool.

Faust and his partner stayed to themselves for the most part, primarily because they were deemed to creepy to become anybody's friends, even for a school of death meisters headed by Shinigami-sama himself. They didn't seem to mind. Most of the time he seemed to be in his own world anyway.

In the very back of the room, seated only a few chairs away Akuma himself, sat the most problematic student, paired up with a veritable angel. Tyler Voors, and his weapon Synnar Dogma. Tyler was the most annoying asshole in the class, selfish and irresponsible. All he was ever looking for was a way to make his name known, and to have a cheap thrill. The only reason any work was ever done by his partnership, was because Synnar was so focused and willing to suffer anything to keep them on their duties.

And the twins meisters, Stacy and Tracy, who shared a weapon between them. The two were inseparable. Personally, there was very little that pissed Akuma off more than when parents named twin children similar names like that. Their shared weapon was a large heavy kanabo with a long chain attached to its handle. That kanabo was quite an interesting personality, a man named Ulrich Yoonz, who was quite happy with his meister arrangement. Akuma could agree with him completely. Two weapons for one meister, or two meisters for one weapon, either arrangement worked out perfectly in his mind.

Those were the big names of the classroom, the ones who stuck out in Akuma's mind. Maiko, Teldier, Tyler, Synnar, Faust, Lorelei, Tracy, Stacy, Ulrich, and of course he and his team at the top of the pyramid. The rest among them were just a gray blur of inconsequential peoples.

He checked every day on those nine, wanting them in pristine condition for when he desired a challenge with them. He had plans to use them in order to improve his own ability.

His plans for the systematic defeat of the others were interrupted when their teacher walked in. It wasn't like Akuma needed to be there for the lesson, he'd already received all of the instruction he needed directly from his father. He only ever went to the lesson to scope out the competition, and to take the examinations. Plus there weren't any challenging outstanding missions at the time.

Roll call passed with Akuma's attention elsewhere, only Akrid's presence of mind allowed him to keep his nearly perfect attendance.

A boring lesson plan, not very long though. In seemingly no time at all, they were all released. The vast majority of the students headed off to the gym. Akuma and his partners were among them. "Oy! Maiko!" He yelled to get her attention. "And you know, what's your face!" He was always better with girl's names than guy's. "C'mon, let's continue from where we left off!"

"No can do!" The guy replied. "And the name's Teldier." He held his hand out for Akuma to shake.

Akuma nodded in response, but made no effort to grab it. A few more seconds and the awkwardness grew too much for Teldier to keep his hand up.

He continued on, flawlessly masking over the awkward part of the conversation. "Anyway, a job's just come in for us, so... We'll have to check you later kay?"

Akuma grinned. "What's the job?"

"Our business and not yours." Teldier responded with a grin.

"I was just asking if you wanted to sweeten the pot a little."

"Nope. First job as a team, no chances, short and simple."

"Oh come on!" Maiko complained. "I thought my partner was adventurous! Not a pussy!"

"Oh really now? That's how you're going to play?" Teldier raised an eyebrow.

"So what if I am? You gonna show me that I'm wrong?"

"Maybe I will." Teldier turned back to Akuma. "So this pot sweetening, what would it entail?"

"A challenge of course. You against me." Akuma grinned. People were predictable, and guys most of all. They would do anything in their power to ensure that they weren't shown up by a girl. "You go to do your mission, and I'll go off for mine. Whoever comes back victorious is the victor, simple as that. I'd say we both go off on the same mission, but I doubt you'd go for that."

"Okay, it's on!" Teldier grinned and cracked his neck. "You and me are both going to Egypt to take out Ammuit, a grave robber and cannibal."

"Sounds fun. Whoever kills her wins then?"

"Deal. Let's go Maiko." He nodded her into motion. She grinned and cast a sultry smile Akuma's way, adding a wink for good measure.

Akuma lifted his arms as Akrid and Nyx stepped forward. Perfect timing. He dropped his arms perfectly in place around their shoulders. Everything was perfect as he led them away to his ride.

* * *

Beelzebub, his jet-propelled skateboard, roared underneath him. For an easier journey, Nyx rode in weapon form thrust through the front of his sword belt, while Akrid rode in a holster on the back of his hip. HIs opponent was a jumbo jet, travelling fast to Egypt. Shibusen only rarely ever allowed their students to travel out of their usual jurisdiction, but Teldier had managed to get the mission beyond his usual allotment, and in another area.

It probably had something to do with the fact that Egypt didn't actually have a shibusen school of its own. They were working on creating numerous schools around the world to suit the death scythes, and to protect the innocent. Unfortunately, there were only eight death scythes. Three of the older ones, including the famously powerful Spirit himself have fallen. Akuma remembered attending his funeral, a very touching ceremony. Unfortunately, Spirit had outlived his wife, his child, and actually lived longer than his grandchildren. The only people who attended the ceremony had been Akuma, Shinigami-sama and a random few people from the city who honored him.

Always a foul memory, but sentimental in the extreme. It didn't take them very long to arrive at their destination, but he took the girls out shopping first. He didn't want an unfair advantage over his opponent. Honestly, he wanted the advantage to go the other way if anything. He'd rather be at a disadvantage, to allow him more length to struggle.

Nyx was rushing around from among a thousand stalls throughout the dry desert heat, grabbing a few articles of clothing from one, another she'd take a bauble or two, and yet another she grabbed a plate of some type of meat.

Akuma followed along behind the girl, dropping some money at each table she passed by. He passed over enough money at each table to cover whatever she took, as well as a bit extra for having to deal with her. Akrid followed after, looking briefly over each table of items, but always remaining distant, detached. Some of the items put a twinkle in her eyes, showing the slimmest desire over the item, but she always seemed serene, her face never changed in the slightest.

Akuma noted some of the items as she looked, but then berated himself for his idiocy. Even if he bought her what she wanted more than anything, it would be to no avail. She wouldn't react to it, just give him the same apathetic, dull gaze. The only indicator of interest he ever received from her was from that twinkle in her eyes.

It ended up costing Akuma a hefty total from his wallet. But the childlike glee he saw in Nyx's eyes made the expense well worth it.

He looked to the sky as a roaring noise filled the air. "Finally." He muttered. "Yo Nyx! Our opponent arrived! Get your ass in gear!"

Nyx looked up at him in surprise, a piece of chicken hanging out of her mouth.

He pointed up and her eyes followed the finger up into the sky to see the plane as it started to land. She tossed the chicken back and let out a little burp. _Even her burps are cute,_ Akuma decided as he turned to lead the way. Akrid quickly joined him.

"Just one more!" Nyx giggled as she stole another piece of food before running after them.

"Hey! Get back here you little thief!"

It was far beyond any possibility of the man grabbing her by the time he made it out from behind his stall. Nyx was already by Akuma's side, almost a block away.

"Teldier!" He cried out as the passengers began to disembark. "Maiko! So good of you two to join us! Bought time you two got here. I've been waiting for you to get here before I went off on our journey."

"Y-you waited for us?" Maiko stuttered.

"Of course. After all, we can't have you saying that I had some sort of advantage."

"Sillies! We want to show off! We can't show off if you're giving us an edge!" Nyx giggled.

Teldier sighed and chuckled. "Let's get this show on the road then."

Akuma grinned and motioned for the couple to lead the way.

* * *

A glorious pinnacle of the ancient Egyptians, a mighty stone behemoth, stood tall above them from the desert's bosom. Numerous hieroglyphs adorned the arch of the opening, claiming this to be the tomb of the mighty pharaoh Anib. Not that that was of any importance.

"Ready?"Akuma asked his opponent.

"Set." Came Teldier's reply.

"Go!" Maiko and Nyx cried out in unison.

The five of them raced into the entryway into the pharaoh's tomb, breaking into two groups to cover more ground. They were heading in here essentially blind, but almost immediately they were set upon by good omens.

Akuma was just about to round a corner when a lurching behemoth seemingly sprouted from nowhere, The creature was wrapped in numerous layers of filthy linens, reeking foully of effluvia. The thing appearance was brutally disgusting, just being around it was making Akuma sneer with distaste. The creature was a monster, more for its appearance than for anything else, but still, if one had to have minions to do one's bidding, they should at least be aesthetic. After all, these were nigh-immortal beings. They had the time to make it right.

Akuma reached back with his right hand and accepted Akrid's into his own. She changed into her gun form and he fired twice quickly, the first blasting the creature's head away while the second tore the torso apart. "Looks like we're on the right path," He grinned and accepted Nyx's hand as well, staring at the numerous mummies now flooding the hallway. "Shall we?" He asked as she changed her form.

* * *

Teldier swung Maiko in a circle around his body, slamming one of her blades through a mummy's dusty undead husk. A quick flip about his wrist and she was spearing through another one's chest. Maiko was finally deciding that Teldier was a halfway decent partner. Only a days together, and already he was attuned to the nuances of her body. At least on the battlefield. And he had no reason to learn any nuance she had off of it.

"Clearly we're getting close eh?" Teldier gasped happily as he stressed through the motions. "We're gonna kick Akuma's ass in this challenge."

"Less talking, more killing. Some of these guys have souls bound up in them." She commanded.

"Fine, fine, you know, you're a lot more fun when you're not a weapon." He sighed as she split a mummy from crown to groin. He sliced another one into three pieces, ducking under the sweeping blade and throwing Maiko like a spear into another.

Maiko really was impressed with him. She knew that she had a powerful soul wavelength, one that only very talented meisters had ever been able to synch with. Although they hadn't resonated yet, she knew that it was within his ability, just a little more experience and they could do it no problem. She tried to fluctuate her wavelength, but like most weapons, was more an amplifier than a resonator. It was the master's responsibility to match the weapon's wavelength, not the other way around.

* * *

Akuma was now at a crossroads. Two dark tunnels pointing away in front of him, each looking exactly the same as the one he'd just come out of. He dropped the girls, who immediately changed back in time to catch themselves. "Which way ladies?"

"We could always split up!" Nyx suggested, not intimidated in the slightest, just like her allies.

Akuma shared a glance with Akrid, before looking back at Nyx. "Sure, why not? You two go down the left, I'll head down the right."

"Yay! Ready to go sis?" Nyx inquired.

"Whatever." Came her reply. Predictable. Akuma used to try to get more out of her, try to get her to come out of her shell, but she had no interest in doing so. He now just accepted her silence.

"Then go, call out if you find him, or you get into too much trouble." Akuma started down his path.

Nyx stared after him for a moment, a slight feeling of abandonment tugging at her heart. She was reminded of their parents, specifically their father. He had blamed them for their mother dying, and how could they argue? Akrid's birth had left their mother incredibly weak, she'd never fully recovered. Soon enough, Nyx was to be born, and that had proven to be fatal to their mother. Which their father had never forgiven them for her passing.

He'd stayed five years after Nyx's birth before he abandoned them. Akrid had been eight, old enough to know the reason why. All Nyx knew was that first their mother had abandoned them, and now their father.

So it held to reason that her nerves would flutter every time Akuma left. She was worried that he would leave them too, after they had been taken in by the school, they had had nothing. He gave them another shot at a functional family. And for that, she was grateful, but always anxious that he might take it away at any instant.

Akrid drew her attention back to the job at hand and led her down the other tunnel. She looked back to keep Akuma in her sight for as long as possible. He didn't look back.

It didn't take very long before she was forced to turn her attention to what was before her. The tunnel was fast filling up with what seemed like thousands of mummies. Maybe even more. Akrid continued walking forward confidently, holding her hand behind her.

Nyx jumped to it, changing so the blade pointed back behind her, the same way someone would hold a knife rather than a full sized sword. Akrid pulled the blade forward and grabbed hold of it with both hands.

Akrid sped herself forward, thrusting her hands forward and twisting her body, taking two of the mummies out of the fight. From her new position, she kept the blade pointed behind her, now stabbing at the mummies rather than attacking with hacks and slashes. Each of the punctures were placed directly where she planned, not one went astray. Every one was calculated to end the threat, not always to erase the enemy.

One of the mummies swung a slow limb at her and she saw that she wouldn't be able to avoid it, so she dropped herself to the ground, letting go of Nyx and changing form. Nyx caught her and immediately went into a handstand to flip through the surrounding mummies and make her way further. She swung her body in a circle, swinging the foot and a half pistol before her and smacking one of them in the face, causing it to burst into a cloud of dust with the mighty force behind the swing.

Akrid's battle style was slow and precise, always calculating, always prepared. She never attacked unless it was perfect. And the attacks that she did do were always thrusts. Nyx was always in motion and followed her instincts. There was no thought, just killing, and always attacking.

Oddly enough, neither Nyx nor Akuma ever used Akrid consistently as an actually gun. She was shot only one in a blue moon. Not that she complained. Neither of their battle styles were particularly suited for that. Akuma used her for long range shots, beyond the range that most people considered an enemy to escape from. Nyx only ever used her as a club.

So they continued on the route, killing and switching, always keeping safe, always moving forward. They left dozens of the mummies behind them, but they weren't there to kill everybody.

They finally found a large door, with both of them in human form. They were quite a ways ahead of any of the mummies, so they weren't exactly rushed. "Should we call for Akuma now?" Akrid asked blandly.

"We don't know that we've found anything yet." Nyx argued.

"What else could be back there. Look at this door."

"We should still make sure."

She would soon regret her decision. Right past the door, they were confronted with a massive chamber. In the center of the room lay a massive sarcophagus. It lay on a stone alter surrounded by a poor of oil. Numerous torches were affixed to pillars around the chamber.

Nyx entered the room and began to immediately wander around and search out the chamber. Akrid spoke up to stop her. "We should call Akuma down here now. It's obvious that this is the place."

"Oh calm down." Nyx sighed. "As soon as he gets here, it's gonna be all business and all of the fun of exploring an ancient ruin will be, well ruined." She giggled at her pun.

Akrid began to walk back, intending to sit against the wall and let her sister do whatever she wanted. "Whatever, just don't be too long." She felt a tugging on the back of her shirt, "I told you that you could explore, you don't have to drag me back, I was just going to sit over here."

"What did you say?" Nyx asked, her voice echoing in the size of the chamber. Clearly not from behind Akrid however. "Hey let go of me!"

Akrid whipped around in caution, feeling the back of her shirt tear and the coldness of the crypt. Shadowy hands danced about the chamber, many of them wrapping around to strike at her sister. Another one was already swinging back around to claw at her again.

The clawed hand thrust forward and slammed against her neck, pushing her up against the wall and choking her. She saw her sister in similar straits, held up and spread eagle, each of her limbs restrained and pressed firm to the wall.

The shadows extended from the sarcophagus. Akrid felt her body pulled away from the stone and swiftly slammed back brutally hard, feeling a cracking sound. Whether the crack came from the stone or her body, she couldn't quite identify. Nyx was launched across the room, slamming against one of the pillars and cracking it through. They were then brought, dazed and confused high above the sarcophagus.

As they rose up, a gasp could be heard. Akuma stood just inside the doorway on the other side of the room from their entry point.

They could see his body shaking with intensity.

"Haha, you're in for it now scary guy!" Nyx called out confidently. Akrid grinned brilliantly. With Akuma there, there was no more danger. Even with his weapons held up, trapped by the shadows, he was still an impressive force to reckon with.

"You...you look perfect!" He shouted excitedly. "Nobody move!" He reached behind himself and dug around, finally pulling a sketchpad out of his pack. And then a pencil found its way into his possession.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Nyx screamed.

"Pipe down! Stop talking and stay still!" Akuma nearly screeched. "Shadow hands thing. Help me out. Life Nyx up a few more inches!" He was already beginning to sketch the entire scene out.

The shadows actually listened, coiling tighter around her lithe body and raising her up half a foot. "You're not helping!" She yelled.

Akrid sighed. She should've seen this coming. He was forever desiring to capture them in image, something he did quite often, not always with their permission. Not that that mattered to Akrid. She could truly care less about what he did. Although it was rather annoying in a situation such as this. "Akuma, get to work. Do you want to lose the bet?" She tried to appeal to his pride.

"Hold on! Just give me another minute or two! I'm already halfway done!" It seemed like his pencil would burst into flame at any moment.

Akrid gave a resigned sigh as Nyx began to curse Akuma out for being an idiot. He successfully ignored her.

* * *

Maiko and Teldier had gone through a thousand different turns and effectively getting lost. "You stupid faggot!" She screamed at him.

"You know what the worst part about this all is?" He said with a clearly identified tone of annoyance. "You're just as f*cking annoying in either form! Stop your f*cking bitching and do something helpful! Huh? How does that idea sound? Wanna not be a dumbass and do something useful?"

"F*ck you and the horse you rode here on!" If anything her yelling only increased in volume.

"What the f*ck does that mean?" His grew no quieter.

"I don't f*cking know!" She was pretty sure they were just yelling for the sake of yelling at this point. She really had no idea what her screaming was doing.

Because of all of the yelling, they didn't hear the sound of a trap being triggered.

As such, they continued walking forward and were eventually assaulted by the trap's activation, causing them to plummet through the floor. Maiko chose then to change into her weapon form, that way she stabbed into the ground and kept herself safe from harm.

Teldier wasn't quite so lucky. He landed hard and painfully on his front, letting out a huge gasp as the pain came to the forefront of his mind. _Falling hurt!_

"Are you okay?" He puffed into dirt.

"I'm fine!" She giggled happily as she changed back into human.

"F*ck you too princess." He groaned as he pushed back up to his feet. "So where are we now?"

"I have no f*cking clue."

"Watch the f*cking mouth."

That last comment was odd enough to shock Maiko into silence. "You've got to be f*cking kidding me."

"Hey!"

"I have no idea what to make of you."

"Like you're one to f*cking talk." Teldier rubbed at his neck, trying to work a kink out from the fall.

"Hey, watch the language!" She mocked.

"Eh, f*ck you!" Was his eloquent response. They had quite a relationship going on, but whether it was good or bad was something to be determined in the future. They were certainly suited for one another, no doubt about that.

"F*ck you too bitch." Her response was no better.

Teldier stood tall and looked around the room they had fallen into. They had dropped a good twenty or thirty feet, far enough that if he hadn't been a meister, it may well have been a fatal plunge. But these Egyptians would have to try harder to take him out.

He started leading the way again, heading down a path at random. He walked with authority, so even though he made the route up as he went, he appeared to know what he was doing.

Maiko followed after him, assuming that his path was chosen for some purpose.

They lucked out though. He'd gotten it right on his first try.

* * *

Akuma worked quickly, but without once making an error. Every curve, every gleam of sweat, every flickered shadow from the torches, it was all innate to the picture. He had already been at it for almost fifteen minutes.

Akrid knew that saying anything would aid nothing. He was trapped in his own world and nothing would manage to shake him loose until he chose. Nyx however, had still been determined to try. Akuma had shushed her numerous times until finally one of the shadowy hands reached up and closed over her mouth, silencing her.

That was incredibly shocking to all of them, the fact that the shadows appeared to _want_ him to complete his drawing. Immortalize it maybe?

It didn't matter, Akuma was working hard, his attention couldn't be broken. He was fixated on the picture. Shading was difficult in the torch-lit room, with the shadows dancing on their bodies, and the shadows dancing on the page to add to the confusion.

Nyx had stopped most of her struggling by this point. The more Akrid looked at her, the more it appeared that she had fallen asleep. Which would be just like her. Not being able to do anything, might as well fall asleep. That was just how her sister functioned. Akrid personally preferred time in which she needed to nothing, it allowed her much time for introspection.

Then, all of a sudden, she was no longer held in the air.

A burst of air rushed past her as she fell, causing the white skirt she wore to flare up around her hips. She reacted with typical speed, twisting her legs beneath her and tucking into a roll to protect herself from any harm during the fall.

Nyx was soon after. As she had guessed, her sister was fast asleep and fell flat on her front, hitting hard against the stone and grunting out a painful gasp.

Teldier had come in and cut them down with a pair of sweeping blows to sever their bonds and free them.

The snapping of Akuma's pencil was audible.

And with that snap, the room fell silent.


End file.
